Names, Patronymics, Nicknames and Name Days

[LisaDavidson]

I don't believe that Dmitri Pavlovich was called Metia. Metia was Dmitri Constantinovich. I believe DP was called "Dee-me" or something like that.

[Svetabel]

I don't believe that Dmitri Pavlovich was called Metia. Metia was Dmitri Constantinovich. I believe DP was called "Dee-me" or something like that.

I don`t think so."Dima" for Dmitrii often use only nowadays in Russia.Dmitri Pavlovich was "Mitya" or "Mit`ka" or "Miten`ka".Though his sister Maria in her memoirs calls him only Dmitri.

[gem_10]

Hi! I'm just curious... What was the name used by Sergei when he was calling or referring to Ella? Did he called her Ella, Elisabeth or Elizaveta?

[Mandie, the Gothic Empress]

All i know is that maybe Elisabeta is a Russian/Romanain way to spell it,..i'm not sure?

[Olga]

In Russian he would have referred to her as Yelizaveta.

[RomanovFan]

Olga was often called 'Olya' by her sisters I think
Tatiana was 'Tatia' or 'Tanya'
Maria was 'Mashka', "Masha" or 'Marie'...and even sometimes 'Littlie Bow Wow' (her sisters made this one up, I'm sure)
Anastasia was 'Nastya' or "Shvizvik" (spelling?)
Alexander III was called 'Sasha' (This nickname was/is also used as a nickname for Alexandra)
Marie Fedorovna was 'Minnie'
Friedrich (Alix's brother) was called 'Frittie'

Nicholas' siblings:

Alexander IV = Maybe "Sandro" or "Little Sasha"
George= "Georgy" or "Goggie"
Xenia= "Malenkaya" perhaps by MF.
Michael= "Misha"
Olga = "Olya" or "Olishka" perhaps.

[Olga]

Sasha has always been a diminutive of Alexander.

Olga Alexandrovna: Olya
Kseniya Alexandrovna: Ksyusha
Mikhail Alexandrovich: Misha, Floppy
Tatiana Nikolaevna: Tanya

[Annie]

I have seen the oldest Konstantinovich boy listed under all 3 of these names in various different places. Is it a question of translation? Does anyone know what his actual name was?

[grandduchessella]

I have seen the oldest Konstantinovich boy listed under all 3 of these names in various different places. Is it a question of translation? Does anyone know what his actual name was?

They're all variations on the English John. I've usually seen him listed in publications and albums as Ioann and his descendants as Ioannovich. That's how he was referred to in family letters, etc...

[Annie]

Thanks, is Ioann the closest translation from Russian? How would you pronounce that name

[grandduchessella]

Thanks, is Ioann the closest translation from Russian? How would you pronounce that name

I found something on the etymology:
IOANN   m
Usage: Russian
Older Russian form of JOHN

IVAN   m
Usage: Russian, Czech, Croatian, Slovene
Pronounced: IE-van
Russian, Czech, Croatian and Slovene form of JOHN. This was the name of several rulers of Moscow, including Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible, the first czar of Russia. Other notable bearers include Ivan Turgenev, a Russian author who wrote 'Fathers and Sons', and Ivan Pavlov, a scientist and physiologist best known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex.

Ioann (m) -- The Russianization of John (God is gracious) and one of the most common given names. Both the older form (Ioann) and the newer (Ivan)

I'll have to look for the pronunciation. It seems KR with his deep religiosity combined with his love of culture & history wanted to reach way back for a name. Ioann was the son of Ivan the Terrible.

Some of KR's other children:
Gavril (m) -- Russianization of Gabriel ("my strength is God").

Vysheslav (m) -- "high glory." Vysheslav, son of Saint Vladimir.

Tatiana (in addition to being from Eugen Onegin)
Tat'iana (f) -- "to designate." Tat'iana, martyr. 1356.

[Penny_Wilson]

I have heard several times, including at least once from a relative of the Konstantinovichi branch, that KR and his wife were a little hacked off at Alexander III for limiting the use of the Grand Ducal title just before Ioann's birth.  They determined that since their children would be something quite different and new -- Princes of the Blood Imperial rather than Grand Dukes -- then their names would also be quite different and "new" to the Imperial family.

PS.  Vyacheslav was KR's youngest brother, not one of his chlidren.

[grandduchessella]

I have heard several times, including at least once from a relative of the Konstantinovichi branch, that KR and his wife were a little hacked off at Alexander III for limiting the use of the Grand Ducal title just before Ioann's birth.  They determined that since their children would be something quite different and new -- Princes of the Blood Imperial rather than Grand Dukes -- then their names would also be quite different and "new" to the Imperial family.

PS.  Vyacheslav was KR's youngest brother, not one of his chlidren.

Whoops!    I was trying to go by memory when I should've looked it up.

[jehan]

IVAN   m
Usage: Russian, Czech, Croatian, Slovene
Pronounced: IE-van
 

 But of course, IE'-van is the English pronounciation of the Russian name.  In Russian it is ee-VAN'.

[Georgiy]

Ioann is pronounced 'Ee-oh-ahn'. I think the stress is on the last syllable.